Window time for number coding scheme to be tested

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan announced that police and traffic officers will be implementing the approved experiment for the window period that will be granted to public utility vehicles (PUVs) affected by the strict implementation of the Baguio city number coding scheme to allow students and workers to be ferried to their desired destinations on time.

The local chief executive said that the window period granted to certain groups of PUVs plying various routes in the city will be from 6 am to 9 am only while there will be no window period that will be provided the PUVs in the afternoon to lessen its impact on traffic congestions in the city’s central business district area.

“We have to experiment on the approved window time for public utility vehicles covered by the number coding scheme to service the needs of students and workers from the different parts of the city and if that will be effective, we will await the recommendations of the persons responsible in managing the city’s traffic affairs,” Domogan stressed.

He admitted that the real test on how effective is the window period granted to PUVs will be the coming week because of the opening of classes in the different universities and colleges and private secondary education institutions in the city and there is an expected surge of people from the different parts of the city to the central business district.

Earlier, the city’s Traffic and Transportation Management Committee (TTMC) approved the grant of the window period for PUBs plying certain routes in the city to allow them to service riders from the barangays to the central business district as there are routes that are greatly affected with reduced units during the implementation of the number coding scheme.

Domogan expressed his gratitude to the police and traffic enforcers as well as the members of the city’s police auxiliary force for their unrelenting and uncompromising efforts to significantly reduce the impact of the traffic congestions in the different parts of the city to the city’s economic and development growth.

According to him, the local government continues to explore the appropriate strategies that could be implemented in the coming months to help in decongesting the monstrous traffic jams around the central business district and roads leading to tourist destinations during weekends that is why people should also cooperate with traffic schemes that are enforced because local officials are trying their best to find the best solution to traffic.

The TTMC was created by the local government to be the policy-making body relative to traffic and transportation in the city covering various inter-city inter-provincial among other major routes leading to the city.

He called on all concerned sectors in the city to understand the predicament of the local government and the police and traffic officers in the management of the city’s daily traffic situation because the roads were planned and built for only 25,000 inhabitants compared to the city’s current population of over 346,000 people at night and up to over 600,000 daytime population.